Reducing Energy and Emissions
In line with its Corporate Carbon Plan Council has taken an active approach to energy efficiency and emissions reduction including:
- partnering with 12 other regional councils to procure a renewable energy Power Purchase Agreement securing 100% renewable electricity for Council's large sites and streetlighting at highly competitive rates to the end of 2030
- Switching all of Council's small sites to the NSW government Shell Energy contract which ensures all small sites are powered by 100% renewable electricity and is predicted to save Council approximately $54,000 in the first year of the contract and $36,000 in the next year
- upgrading all of Council's streetlighting to LEDs which saves approximately $30,000 in electricity costs and 144 tonnes of CO2-e per year
- undertaking energy efficient lighting upgrades at 16 different Council facilities
- installing over 300 kW of solar panels over 16 different Council facilities
- upgrading old air-conditioning systems to more efficient models
- installing solar hot water systems at Council's swim centres
- replacing one of Council's diesel ride-on mowers with an electric mower which is estimated to save approximately 15 tonnes of CO2-e per year, and
- replacing two of Council's fleet vehicles with electric vehicles.
All of these actions have meant that Council has already smashed through its 2030 emission reduction target of a 45% reduction in fuel and electricity emissions (compared to the baseline year of 2009/10). Council achieved this in the 2024/25 financial year with a 58% reduction in fuel and electricity emissions.
Council continues to identify new opportunities to reach its next target of net zero by 2040, with many opportunities outlined in Council's Corporate Carbon Plan 2025-2030(PDF, 10MB).
